


i carry your heart

by inkvoices



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Community: be_compromised, F/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 16:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13839054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/pseuds/inkvoices
Summary: Prompt: some kind of supernatural AU where you get literal hearts on Valentine's Day.When Natasha holds out her heart, Clint stares at it for a long time.  So long that she almost thinks he's never going to accept it, until the moment that he does.





	i carry your heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CloudAtlas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudAtlas/gifts).



> Title from _[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]_ by ee commings, because I couldn’t resist. Written for the [Valentine's Mini Promptathon 2018](https://be-compromised.dreamwidth.org/538999.html).

When Natasha holds out her heart, Clint stares at it for a long time. So long that she almost thinks he's never going to accept it, until the moment that he does.

“Is that…” a passing SHIELD Agents starts to ask, her voice trailing off in disbelief as she stops to gawk.

Natasha presses her lips together and doesn't look at the crowd that starts to gather in the corridor. She doesn't need to _watch_ her reputation going down the drain from taking part in this stupid Valentine’s day ritual, even though Clint is worth it.

“Jesus,” another Agent mutters. “That's _human_ , isn't it?”

It’s a tradition, on the fourteenth of February, to gift hearts to loved ones or lovers in honor of Saint Valentine. It’s a way to show someone how far you’ll go for them, to protect them.

Most people can hunt, those with the Sight; blink and then blink again, and there is another layer to the world. The Other World. Where past mistakes manifest and literally follow people around, and black dogs sit on shoulders, and hate breeds embodiments of violence. Call them demons, or Others, or fifth dimensional beings; the important thing is that they can be destroyed and that doing so makes the people haunted by them feel… lighter, happier, _better_.

The patron saint of love and travellers wasn’t the first in recorded history to hunt them, but it’s believed he was the first to hand the hearts of his kills to the people he helped. He probably, Natasha thinks cynically, then demanded payment.

Children will set traps for the easiest demons to catch, which are usually - but not necessarily - the smallest. Adults will often try to convey a message by what they choose, but for the most part will settle for something bigger than a child’s prey but still relatively easy to kill. The hearts of the demons hardest to hunt are rarer gifts - and are rarely actually hunted down by the person gifting them, instead bought from pop-up specialist markets or ordered off the internet. 

Natasha hunted the most difficult prey she knows and she killed it with her own bare hands.

Valentine’s Day is stupid, but it’s the only way she can think of to really show Clint what he means to her and she’d decided that if she was going to do it then she’d do it _properly_.

“What’s this?” Hill demands, trying to walk past but there’s too many people blocking the corridor. She takes in the scene and a few Agents drift away, not wanting the Deputy Director to remember that they were part of the commotion. “Have you never seen a Valentine before?”

“Not a _human_ one,” says someone at the back, probably thinking that they’re safe out of Hill’s sight.

The atmosphere is not one of amusement, condescension, or mockery, as Natasha expected from SHIELD Agents catching the infamous Black Widow indulging in sentiment. Instead: disgust, fear, morbid fascination.

Is this not how it’s done?

The Soldier brought his heart to her once. Laid it in the snow at her feet. They wiped him after and beat her bloody, but nothing even the Red Room could do could diminish how Natasha had felt to be considered worth that.

The largest prey they call a personal demon. The Other You. The part of yourself that would do harm to another. To butcher yourself and place your own heart in the keeping of someone else is to say: I will kill myself before I hurt you.

Natasha peers at Clint’s face, trying to see if he feels anything at all like she did then - and like she does when she’s with him - or if this has been a huge mistake.

“Barton,” says Hill, one hand resting on the butt of the gun holstered at her hip and her eyes fixed on Natasha - and that’s a sign that maybe Natasha has misstepped here - “if you want to make a formal complaint - ”

“What?” Clint looks up, blinking wide eyes, still gently cradling Natasha’s heart in his palms.

“A complaint,” Hill says patiently. “A grievance. A - ”

“Oh! No.”

Clint shakes his head. 

He reads the little label Natasha tied around an artery. 

_With love, Nat_

He looks back up and clears his throat.

“Would you… If you're free, I mean, would you maybe like to go out? With me? On a date?”

“After she killed a _personal demon_?” Agent Costello is unfortunately placed where both Hill and Natasha can see him, but it seems the situation is too much for him to be able to keep his mouth shut, even for the sake of self-preservation. “C’mon, we all know what that means.”

There are murmurs of agreement from elsewhere in the crowd and a few nodding heads, but others look uncertain.

“What,” Costello continues, crossing his arms, “her kill count isn’t high enough, she has to go after people’s personal demons now too? That’s freaking _personal_ , the clue’s in the - ”

“That’s enough, Agent,” Hill says, cutting him off. “My office. Now,” she orders. “The rest of you: disperse.”

‘It’s mine,’ Natasha signs as the corridor empties, not one person able to her look her in face except for Clint, who can’t seem to look away.

She hadn’t realised, that the hearts of personal demons are apparently taboo or at least the hearts of other people’s are; hadn’t considered it. It seems her reputation as something to fear remains intact, but either way it doesn’t matter so long as Clint understands what she’s trying to say here.

“I know,” Clint says out loud, a grin spreading across his face. “You. No one has ever done anything like this for me before. Not ever. You - ” He pauses for a moment. “Wait, you didn’t say yes. Is this just a friend thing? I mean, not _just_ , obviously. I mean - ”

“Yes,” she interrupts. There’s a brief flash of disappointment in his eyes before he covers it up and Natasha clarifies, “Yes, I would like to go on a date with you.”

It’s amazing how happy that makes him and how much he allows it to show.

Clint Barton, she thinks, you are absolutely worth this.

She looks away, uncomfortable with how careful he is as he places her heart within his own. She blinks and blinks again, making the Other World fade from view, so that she doesn’t have to see.

“Hey.” Clint steps forward to stand alongside her, still smiling. “You know mine belongs to you too, right?”

She accepts his hand when he reaches out, warm and bloody in hers.


End file.
